WIth all of the physical distancing and other restrictions currently in place, the Uniformed Services University will now be holding a virtual commencement ceremony on Wednesday, April 1. Medical students and advanced practice nursing students from the USU class of 2020 will be graduating several weeks early to help support their colleagues in the military health system amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

More than 200 military medical students and graduate nursing students from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) will be graduating early to support their colleagues in the U.S. military health system amid the global coronavirus pandemic. USU President Dr. Richard Thomas made the decision when the national emergency was declared.

Scientists from the Uniformed Services University (USU), Emory University and the University of Vermont have found that cigarette smoking is linked to increased lesions in the brain’s white matter, called white matter hyperintensities. White matter hyperintensities, detected by MRI scan, are associated with cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. These findings may help explain the link between smoking and increased rates of dementia and other forms of cognitive decline.

A new program launched by the Department of Defense could be the answer to blood shortages on the battlefield, other remote locations, and in hospitals. The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences' 4D Bio3 On-Demand Blood Program, or 4D Bio3 Blood, has developed highly efficient protocols and technology to generate red blood cells from stem cells. A key part of this technology is large-scale cell expansion at low cost, producing sufficient red blood cells for treatment in trauma care. This technology is also being adapted to create neutrophils, ultimately allowing for whole blood transfusion using these methods in the future.

As the world nears poliovirus eradication, the vaccines themselves have become the greatest threat. In response to a global demand for an effective, safer-to-handle and less costly polio vaccine, scientists at the Uniformed Services University (USU) have developed a new one that could help secure a polio-free world.

Lifetime history of exposure to a traumatic event and self-reported lifetime and current depression are predictive of recent suicide ideation in deployed soldiers, according to a new JAMA Network Open study published January 29, 2020. Researchers suggest that attention to deployment experiences that increase suicide ideation in soldiers with past trauma and major depressive disorder can assist clinicians and leadership in identifying and treating Soldiers at increased risk for suicide.

A life-saving course is in development to train high school students around the country how to to deliver the first aid skills for severely injured trauma victims. The education and training course is being created by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health (NCDMPH) and The American Red Cross (Red Cross). Students who successfully complete the course will receive certificates documenting their first aid training.

The effects of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) are pretty clear – problems with memory, headaches, and emotions – but what’s unclear is the underlying pathological causes for those symptoms. According to new research led by researchers at the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in collaboration with the Uniformed Services University (USU), those underlying pathological causes may actually involve more extensive blood vessel damage than previously known. These findings could help target better treatment of these common injuries.

More than 15 years after Sept. 11, 2001, a majority of bereaved family members who lost a loved one in the terrorist attacks that day appear to be healthy and are not reporting symptoms of a mental health condition, while one-third still likely meet the criteria for depression, grief, and anxiety, according to a recent collaborative study led by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU).

A recent pilot program conducted by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) in collaboration with the U.S. Military Academy at West Point has shown that a 3D printer capable of biofabrication could expedite repair or perhaps replace damaged tissues for troops injured on the battlefield, an advancement that could potentially change the way care is provided to the nation’s deployed warfighters.

Future military health care providers are learning new ways to care for patients thanks to the help of a two-year-old Golden Labrador Retriever mix named Shetland. The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) recently welcomed Shetland as its very own facility dog – making its F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine the first medical school to have a permanent, live-in facility dog.

Catastrophic natural disasters, such as hurricanes, cause extreme disruption and can be distressful for individuals, families and communities. Those receiving assistance as well as those involved in disaster management efforts can be affected. The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress has released 12 new resources to aid in the response and recovery efforts for affected communities.

The Uniformed Services University's Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP) has updated one of its websites, hprc-online.org, as well as re-named it Human Performance Resources by CHAMP, still using the familiar acronym HPRC. Formerly known as the Human Performance Resource Center, HPRC provides resources and evidence-based information for Military Service Members on how to perform at their best. This newest version of the HPRC website offers a mobile-friendly format as well as easy access to specific Service-branch content for the latest Total Force Fitness information for each Service.

Thanks to fungi, researchers have made a new discovery that could lead to the development of effective radioprotective drugs for workers cleaning up nuclear contamination zones, like Fukushima and Chernobyl. The discovery could also help astronauts travel to Mars, where severe radiation remains the greatest obstacle.

The Surgeon General of the United States Navy, Vice Adm. C. Forrest Faison, III, will address more than 400 uniformed professionals and their guests on May 18, Armed Forces Day, as they receive their medical, graduate nursing, dental, biomedical science, public health, and clinical psychology degrees from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU).

The Operation Supplement Safety (opss.org) website, established by the Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP), a Department of Defense (DoD) Center of Excellence at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, is releasing a new version with additional resources and enhanced features to promote awareness among DoD personnel and their family members about dietary supplement safety.

Over the last several years, providers saw a marked increase in mental health diagnoses, use of psychiatric medications, and outpatient care for mental health conditions among the diverse population of children in the Military Health System (MHS), according to a new study published this week by researchers at the Uniformed Services University. These findings suggest the mental health care needs of children and youth are increasing and more child health care providers may be needed in both the military and civilian health care system.

The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), along with Profectus Biosciences, Inc., the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Inc., and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), have been awarded up to $24.5 million to advance treatments for the highly lethal henipaviruses, Nipah and Hendra.

Important issues impacting evidence-based approaches to disaster preparedness and response will be the focus of the upcoming disaster symposium, “Disasters and Health: State of Science,” April 25-26, 2019, in Washington, D.C.

A new, four-year program has been established to improve rehabilitative care for service members with musculoskeletal injury, ultimately enhancing overall military readiness, thanks to a $15 million grant from the Defense Health Agency awarded to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU).

Harmful medical errors decreased by almost 40 percent after implementing an intervention designed to improve communication between healthcare providers, patients and families, according to a new study published Dec. 6 in the British Medical Journal by researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) in conjunction with the Patient and Family Centered I-Pass Study Team.

The highest honor given by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for medical support was bestowed upon the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Defense, Nov. 21 at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

Vincent Ho, M.D., professor chair of the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and chief of Radiology Services at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), has been named as The Geneva Foundation’s Researcher of the Year.

Children who are given antibiotics or antacids in their first two years of life are more likely to become obese during their childhood, according to a new study published today in the British Medical Journal, Gut.

Calling all clinical or counseling doctoral students! The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) is looking for up to 45 students for its annual Summer Institute: Preparing for a Career in the Armed Forces course.

The NCAA announced its Top 9 Woman of the Year honorees and Air Force 2nd Lt. Sidney Peters, the four-time Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Scholar-Athlete, WCHA All-Academic, Academic All-Big Ten honoree, and 2018 Hockey Humanitarian Award recipient, is among those named.

Air Force 2nd Lt. Sidney Peters, the four-time Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Scholar-Athlete, WCHA All-Academic, Academic All-Big Ten honoree, and 2018 Hockey Humanitarian Award recipient, has been named as one of the NCAA’s Top 30 Woman of the Year honorees for her “demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.”

Regardless of whether or not they have had a prior mental health diagnosis, risk factors were still similar among soldiers who attempted suicide, according to a new JAMA Psychiatry study published Aug. 29.

Participants are now being sought for a new study, Stepping Forward in Grief, which was motivated by key findings from USU’s National Military Family Bereavement Study (NMFBS), the first large scientific study on the impact of U.S. service member death on surviving family members. NMFBS findings suggest that surviving family members who have experienced the loss of a service member may benefit from help managing their loss and grief with programs that recognize their unique experience as military family members.

Josephine Pucci, a member of the 2014 silver medal-winning U.S. Women’s Olympic Hockey team will once again be representing her country – this time wearing the gold. Pucci, a New York native and co-founder of The Headway Foundation, will don the gold bars and uniform of an Army 2nd Lieutenant as a first-year military medical student at the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences starting in August 2018.

Knowing what to do to save a life in the aftermath of a mass trauma event is now at the touch of a button. The Uniformed Services University’s (USU) National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health (NCDMPH) recently launched “Stop the Bleed,” a free iPhone and Android app designed to teach users how to stop life-threatening bleeding in an emergency – and hopefully save lives.

Army physician Lt. Col. Andrew Morgan, a NASA astronaut, will be one of two members of the NASA astronaut class of 2013 going into space in 2019, according to an announcement released by the space agency today.

Antibody therapy developed at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences as a treatment against the Nipah and Hendra viruses has led to an agreement announced today between USU, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF), Profectus BioSciences, Inc., and Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., for development of a human vaccine against the two deadly viruses. The USU-HJF Joint Technology Transfer Office licensed the technology, which is supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

More than 340 uniformed professionals will receive their medical, graduate nursing, dental and biomedical science, public health and clinical psychology degrees on May 19 – Armed Forces Day – at the Uniformed Services University’s (USU) 39th commencement exercise at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Constitution Hall, in Washington, D.C.

Former contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Paden Smith once sought to heal others with his music and lyrics. Today, now a Navy linguist, he will continue his selfless journey of healing others as he takes the next steps on his path to become a military physician.

An experienced leader in Navy Medicine, Navy Capt. (Dr.) John Gilstad, is the new director of the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

Twenty-three non-commissioned officers from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have been given the opportunity to follow their dreams of becoming physicians thanks to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ (USU) Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program, or EMDP2.

An internationally-recognized expert in the field of critical care and burn resuscitation, Army Col. (Dr.) Kevin Chung, has been selected to serve as the next chair of the Department of Medicine at the F. Hébert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU).

Soldiers who deploy twice in one year, with six months or less between each deployment, could be at an increased risk for attempted suicide during or after their second deployment, according to a study published April 18.

Former Veterans Affairs Cabinet Secretary and retired Army Lieutenant General (Dr.) James B. Peake will deliver the commencement address for the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences on Saturday, May 19, at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

Most aid provided to low- and middle-income countries is focused on controlling communicable diseases, like malaria, HIV, and other infectious diseases. However, according to new comprehensive analysis published April 4 in The Lancet, the focus should really be on controlling non-communicable diseases, like cancer, stroke, and heart disease – which are actually keeping the poorest communities poor, and negatively impacting economic development in these countries.